Four American Architects Divide the Remaining
Honors of Competition and Receive Rewards.

Millions of Dollars and Years of Time
Must Be Given to Make a Brilliant Dream a Reality.

The international contest for the Phebe Hearst architectural
plan for the University of California has ended. After a competition in
which the leading architects of the world took part the prize has been
awarded to E. Benard of Paris. Never in the history of the world has there
been such a contest and in the opinion of the greatest living architects
nowhere in the world is there such an ideal university as has been planned
for Berkeley. It remains now to determine whether or not the gorgeous
design of the French architect shall take form in the beautiful college
town.

It will take millions upon millions of dollars to make
the picture what it is intended to represent, and another generation may
be the first to see the architect's dream a reality. But the gigantic
and dazzling project has begun and its promoters say that millions of
dollars are already promised for its accomplishment. The plan is nothing
less than stupendous. It involves the removal of every building on the
unviersity grounds and the creation of a new city of learning which will
stretch from the top of Grizzly Peak down the heights and past the present
campus.

Provision is made for every conceivable department of
learning from a theater to a gymnasium, and in the bewildering prospect
the thought of beauty has prevailed. There is not in the world such another
university. In beauty of location, adaptability of buildings to their
uses, in grouping and in artistic effects the design of the French master
presents a picture that has no counterpart.

This result, which may give to California an everlasting
monument, is the work of Mrs. Phebe Hearst. It was she who inaugurated
the contest and now pledges a princely fortune to achieve a substantial
result. It was Mrs. Hearst who brought the master architects of the world
into the sternest of competitions and one that was without parallel. The
victor in yesterday's award may say that twice he met the leading architects
of all countries and twice he won. More than this, the regents of the
University of California, to whom the plan will be submitted, can say
that they have before them the best that the civilized world can produce
in architecture.

As already described the plan to secure an ideal university
for Berkeley was without parallel. Mrs. Hearst began it nearly two years
ago. Large sums of money were expended in preliminary work. Experts were
sent to Europe to study different universities and to invite interest
in the new and gigantic project. Pamphlets were circulated in the United
States and sent to Germany, England, France and Italy, and eminent architects
were invited to compete in designing a perfect university for Berkeley.

The missionary work was well done. The leading architects
of the world entered the field, for the prize of money was worth the winning
and the prospect of new honors worth the trial. Ninety-eight eminent architects
submitted designs, which on September 30, 1898, were submitted to a jury
at Antwerp. This jury, competent to judge, worked by elimination and after
the first trial only forty-four designs remained. Fifty-four had been
rejected, so searching and exacting had been the standard of excellence.

After the second trial only twenty-one designs remained
as eligible. Then there was a third examination and only the creations
of eleven architects escaped the fire. It was remarkable that all of these
designs received the unanimous approval of the jury. These eleven plans
were brought to this city and it is from them that the jury has drawn
that of Benard as the best. His victory has been well won. His work, under
the fire of every possible criticism, should be the best that the world
can give. It is a signal triumph for French architecture.

Benard's design being adjudged the finest of the eleven
in the final contest was awarded the first prize of $10,000. All the other
prize winners are Americans, although graduates of the French school of
architecture. They are:

The jury has not yet completed its report of the work,
but this will be finished to-day or to-morrow and will be filed with the
university regents before it is made public.

The report will discuss at great length the merits,
demerits, faults and fine points of all the plans submitted. The outcome
of the contest is looked upon as a decided triumph for the French school
of art. No fault is found with the jury's award. The members worked conscientiously
and were not swayed in their judgment by partiality or bias. As a matter
of fact even if they were inclined that way there was no opportunity for
unfairness in making the awards. None of the plans bore the names of the
designers and the coats of arms were covered and sealed and were not exposed
until the jury had reached its final decision.

[Sketch of E. Benard with the caption:] Monsieur E.
Benard, the Winner. Monsieur Benard, whose plans for the new State University
were awarded the first prize by the jury of architects, was born at Goderville,
Department of the Lower Seine, France, in 1844. He is a diplomat Ecole
de Beaux Art and holder of the Grand Prix de Rome. He has been prominently
identified with some of the greatest modern architectural undertakings
of France.

Many things were taken into consideration in making
the decision--the grouping of the different buildings, the variety of
design and their adaptability to the present university site.

The Benard plans present marvelous perfection. None
of the other designs approach them in the qualifications mentioned. They
are for a series of structures commencing west of the present campus and
extending to the limit of the university property and far up to the summit
of Grizzly Peak, where the proposed observatory building is to be located.

In making his designs Benard has utilized to the very
best advantage the grounds as they are; that is, he has preserved the
contour of the property as much as possible. The jury considered that
a decidedly favorable point as the excavations proposed in some of the
plans would have been extremely expensive and would have destroyed many
of the beauties of the surroundings. Even the oak trees and the little
streams in the university grounds have been taken into consideration by
Mr. Benard, and his buildings are so arranged that none of them will be
disturbed. In the main the style of architecture adopted is modern, but
patterned after the classics. Mr. Benard was inspired by and followed
closely upon classic lines. He has leaned somewhat to the Roman Ionic
order.

Opening off University avenue is the great court, which
the architect designates the Fine Arts Square. Around this he has grouped
the educational buildings, strictly speaking. To the south are the theaters,
two in number, and structures of imposing design. East of the Fine Arts
Square at the end of the avenue upon which face the ancient and modern
history, English, the library, the administration building and the department
of jurisprudence, is the athletic field, backed up by the athletic hall
and gymnasium. At the sides of the athletic court are the tribunes, and
the gymnasium is a most beautiful structure. North of the athletic building
and east is the military department. These buildings are so located that
crowds can pass to and from the athletic section without going through
the main grounds.

Up on the rising ground toward Grizzly Peak are located
the natural history group--the departments of zoology, botany and similar
branches. A museum of zoology is included in the group. The observatory
is located at the top of Grizzly Peak and is a prominent feature of the
plans.

Down in the park where the hot-houses now stand the
architect has placed a number of small dwellings, presumably for the use
of members of the faculty. At the other extreme of the grounds, remote
from all other buildings, is the infirmary. The dormitories are situated
on the hillside and the club houses are west of the athletic field.

It was a spacious opening court and the general laying
out of the plan that won it favor with the jury. The arrangement of the
buildings on the hill was not considered quite perfection or in any comparison
with the lower groups, but the excellence of the latter overbalanced whatever
deficiencies there were in the balance of the general plan and prompted
the jury to award Mr. Benard's designs the first prize.

The architect has not lost sight of the educational
features of the university in making his plans. The gymnasium, military
department, dormitories, club houses, etc., have been made secondary features
to the main educational buildings. They are finely grouped, with plenty
of provision made for expansion. While the dormitories are separated somewhat
from the main groups they are conveniently located to both the athletic
field, the gymnasium and the classical departments.

Mr. Benard's plans, aside from their merit as architectural
designs, are works of art. They are all was drawings most artistically
executed. As to the detail of the buildings, that is a matter of after
consideration. The plans are drawn to represent stone, and more than likely
that is the material that will be used in their construction. The cost
of the buildings has not been computed, but when it is taken into consideration
that the plans call for from fifty to seventy-five structures, many of
which are more imposing than any building in this city, a fair idea may
be formed of the outlay necessary to construct the new university.

Howells, Stokes & Hornbostel, whose designs won
second place, worked on an entirely different idea from Mr. Benard. They
gave prominence to the dormitory features of their plans, giving these
buildings so much space that the educational departments were sadly crowded.
The classical buildings are placed on the plateau at the foot of the hill.
The athletic section is practically placed the same as in the Benard plan,
although they have treated in it the amphitheater form. The arrangement
of the grounds provides for two main entrances; one from University avenue,
and the other from Telegraph avenue, the main thoroughfare leading from
Oakland. Mr. Howells of this firm is son of William Dean Howells, the
novelist.

Despardelles & Codman, who came third in the contest,
went outside of the limits of the university territory. They planned a
university on a scale of grandeur that is almost appalling. Great tracts
of land on both sides of the present site are taken in and covered with
buildings of gigantic proportions. The fault the jurors found with these
designs was that in carrying out a very artistic idea the architects divided
the university by a wide public boulevard, extending in a semi-circle
from the end of University avenue to Telegraph avenue. This practically
cut in twain the groups of buildings. The athletic section is given unusual
space and is located almost in the center of the grounds.

The fourth prize was awarded to Howard & Cauldwell
of New York. The trouble with their plans was a monotonous similarity
of design in all the buildings. This was one of the principal faults.
The arrangement of the buildings is excellent and due consideration has
been given to preserving the contour of the present site.

The last on the list of prize winners is the firm of
Lord, Hewlett & Hull of New York. A feature of their plans, and the
one which practically won the fifth prize, is the arrangement of two beautiful
entrances to the university grounds, one directly from Berkeley toward
the west, and the other facing toward Oakland opposite Telegraph avenue.
These entrances lead to an immense square, around which the important
buildings are located, connected by colonnades. But the designers fell
into the monotonous feature and made all the buildings alike. The jury
has considered in looking over all the different plans that each building
should be designed to show as far as possible the use to which it was
to be put.

The Hearst architectural contest marks practically the
beginning of one of the most gigantic undertakings ever attempted. The
consummation of the plans means that the California University will become
one of the greatest and most extensive centers of learning that the world
has ever known. Virtually a city will be built on the site of the present
frame buildings that comprise the State University--a city of buildings
that can safely be said to be the very perfection of architectural design
and beauty, the creations of the greatest architects known. The present
university buildings can almost be numbered on the fingers of the hands.
The plans which won the prize in the architectural contest embrace structures
reaching close up to a hundred in number. Every conceivable department
is provided for according to its acknowledged importance.

From an architectural standpoint the contest is considered
one of the most important events in the history of the profession. The
eyes of the civilized world have been turned toward the jury of architects
and their decision has been awaited with feverish impatience.

At this time it is hard to state with any degree of
positiveness what the next step will be toward a realization of Mrs. Hearst's
plans for California's university. The report of the jury will be in the
hands of the Regents in a very few days and then the course for the immediate
future will be outlined. Mrs. Hearst has guaranteed to provide for the
construction of at least two of the most important buildings and other
public spirited people have signified their intention of doing likewise.

Monsieur E. Benard, upon whose plans was conferred the
great honor of being selected as the designs for California's new university,
is a native of France and comparitively a young man. He was born in 1844
at Goderville, Department of the Lower Seine. He has been closely identified
with many of the more important of modern public and private architectural
works of France. He is a diplomat Ecole de Beaux Arts, and in August,
1867, he received the Grand Prix de Rome, the highest honor in the line
of the arts that can be conferred in the Old World. It is conferred in
the several departments of painting, architecture, sculpture and engraving.
M. Benard won it on an architectural design for a fine arts building.
The central motive of the Art Palace at the Columbian Exposition at Chicago
was practically a direct copy of the work.

A man only has until he is thirty to win the Grand Prix.
Out of a large number of applicants in each department, ten are selected
to enter the final competition, and but one of these is awarded the Grand
Prix in each year.

Monsieur Benard has done a great deal of work upon buildings
in the French capital. He designed the Palace de Compiegne, Civil Court
building at Fecant, the Chateaux of Sassetot and Mere-aux-Clercs. One
of his greatest pieces of work was the designing of the decorations of
the Casino de Nice.